Let us turn again to God's Holy
Word and turning to the chapter we were in this morning, the
end of the prophecy of Isaiah, the last chapter, chapter 66, and I'll read from verse 20 through
22. Isaiah 66, from verse 20 through 22. And
they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord
out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters,
and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mount in Jerusalem,
saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in
a clean vessel unto the house of the Lord. And I will also
take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord.
For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall
remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name
remain. Well, we were considering more
particularly, of course, the 20th verse that I've just read.
And I want us now to move on to consider what is said in verses
21 and 22. Clearly the closing chapters
of the prophecy do speak of the restoration of the Jews that
would come, although about a hundred years after Isaiah's ministry
they were taken into Exile taken into Babylon, yet he does speak
of a glorious restoration. We see it in the previous chapter. Verse 9 of chapter 65, I will
bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah, an inheritor
of my mountains, and mine inlets shall inherit it, and my servants
shall dwell there. and Sharon shall be a fold of
flocks and the valley of Acre, a place for the herds to lie
down in, for my people that have sought me." They'd been taken
away and the land left in a desolate state, Jerusalem, destroyed,
the temple razed to the ground. But God is promising that they
will come again He goes on to say there in that 65th chapter,
verse 21, they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall
plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build
and another inhabit, they shall not plant and another eat. For
as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect
shall long enjoy the work of their hands. So, The prophecy
is looking forward to a restoring after a terrible judgment that
would befall God's ancient covenant people. God would deal with them
of course because of their many sins and we remarked this morning
somewhat of the formalism of their worship and the idolatry
of their ways. that God would chasten them and
then God would, in due time, restore them. But as I also said
earlier, the chapters are looking beyond the restoration of the
Jews and ultimately looking to the Gospel. And with the coming of the Gospel
there is the fulfillment of God's ancient purpose, it would involve
the rejection of Israel. The Lord comes unto his own and
his own receive him not. They refuse to have this man
to rule over them. They crucify him or at least
they put him into the hands of the Roman authorities to crucify
him. How awful is their cry there
before Pontius Pilate crucify him crucify him they would have
Barabbas and not the Lord Jesus and so God rejects them and isn't
that also spoken of here the language that we have again in
chapter 65 And those opening verses, I am sought of them that
ask not for me, I am found of them that sought me not. I said,
behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name,
the calling of the Gentiles. I have spread out my hands all
the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was
not good after their own thoughts. And all these very words are
of course taken up by the Apostle Paul when he's writing there
at the end of Romans 10. And then of course he goes on
in chapter 11 to speak of the Jews and their rejection and
the bringing in of the Gentiles. This is God's great purpose and
we saw it also in the portion that we were reading just now
in the opening verses of Ephesians chapter 3, that great mystery.
And the Jews were blinded to all of that. They didn't understand
the significance of what God would do. They gloried that they were the
Lord's people. The Lord had said, You only have
I known. He'd given His Lord to Israel. He'd not doubt so
with any other nation. They gloried in all of that.
But God had a gracious purpose to fulfill to the ends of the
earth. And really this is what is being
spoken of in these last chapters and verses of the prophecy of
Isaiah, this gospel book. And certainly what we were looking
at on Thursday evening at the prayer meeting, those words at
the beginning of verse 19 in this last chapter, I will set
a sign, an end sign among them. and I will send those that escape
of them unto the nations." All that very little remnant in Israel
that we're looking and watching and waiting for the promised
Messiah when He comes, how few there are. But these are the
very ones who are to take out the Gospel, even to the Gentiles. They shall
declare my glory among the Gentiles, we read there at the end of that
19th verse. And so this morning I endeavored
to say a little with regards to these Gentile converts as
we considered more particularly the content of that 20th verse. And what a literal fulfillment
it was. There In verse 20 we read, And
they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord
out of all nations. They bring them out of all nations. And where to? The end of the
verse, To my holy mount in Jerusalem. saith the Lord, as the children
of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house
of the Lord. And there was a very literal
fulfillment of it in that on the day of Pentecost, which is
really the birth of the New Testament Church, there are all those gathered
at Jerusalem out of many nations, Jews and proselots. And as the
Spirit is poured out, so those few, was it 120? That was the size of the church
at that day. But here they are now, the Spirit
is poured out upon them and they speak in all these various languages
the wondrous works of God. Lord, that from every nation,
as we see in verse 19, Tarshish, Pol, Lod, Tubal, Jathan, the
Isles of Pharaoh, hearing the wondrous gospel of the grace
of God in the lips of the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. They brought out of all nations,
upon horses, and in chariots, and in letters, and upon mules,
and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem. We remark this morning on the
significance of those words in chariots. Let me think of the
Ethiopian eunuch there in the 8th chapter of the Acts and Philip
directed by the Spirit of God to the back end of the desert
and he finds this man from the court of Kandesa. a servant of
the Queen there in his chariot and he's reading in this prophecy,
the prophecy of Isaiah and he's reading those words in the 53rd
chapter and he doesn't understand and he inquires of Philip of
whom the man is speaking and from that scripture what does
Philip do? He preaches Christ Is it not a fulfilment of the
words that we have then in the 20th verse? There is a fulfilment,
there's a spiritual fulfilment of course because we're not to
understand the word simply in terms of a physical coming to
the Holy Mount of Jerusalem there's that spiritual coming that of
which the Apostle speaks in Hebrews chapter 12 where he draws the
contrast between the two covenants the one from Mount Sinai, the
other from Mount Zion. And Mount Zion there in Hebrews
12 at verse 22 following speaks of the Gospel. Oh Christ, the
mediator of that Gospel, the Church of the Firstborn. That
blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
There's that spiritual coming, there's a coming to the Holy
Mount. there's a coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ. All that the Father giveth me,
he says, shall come to me. And he that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Even those sinners of the Gentiles
here are welcome to come to the Lord Jesus. And how the Lord
ministers, how the Lord refuses none that come to Him. In no
wise, he says, will I cast out. Either cometh to me, shall never
hunger. Either believeth on me, shall never thirst. This is the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to continue with that
theme to try to understand what's being said of the gospel in the
words that we have here at the end of this chapter. Turning
then to verses 21 and 22. Those who are brought as an offering
unto the Lord, what does He say of them? I will
also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord. For as the new heavens and the
new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord,
so shall your seed and your name remain. And I want to continue
really with that same theme of the extent, the extent of the
gospel as it were. And here we see something of
the breadth of that gospel in the whole passage that's before
us. We've seen it of course in the
language that we have there in verse 19, these obscure places,
the dimension. where the ensign of the gospel
is to be is to be set up and remember we remarked this morning
how the ensign is spoken of back in chapter 11 and there at verse 10 in that day, that's the gospel
day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an
ensign of the people. It's the same words as in verse
19, I will set a sign, an end sign, among them. Who is this,
the root of Jesse? Jesse the father of David, Christ,
comes of course of that line of David, himself then is descended
also from Jesse. And Christ is the root of David
as he is the root of Jesse. But Christ is also the offspring
of David. He's David's Lord and he's David's
Son. He is the one that's spoken of. The root of Jesse which shall
stand for an ensign of the people to which other Gentiles seek
and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathos, and from Kush,
and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the
islands of the sea. And he shall set up an end sign
for the nations." It's the same truth that we have there in the
11th chapter that we see again here in this closing chapter,
this calling of people from all the
various nations. One of the old commentators,
I think I quoted this on Thursday, in his comment on the words that
we have in the middle of verse 9 concerning these various nations,
Tarshish, Pul, Lod and so forth, he says It's the idea of remote
and unknown regions. It's the gospel going to the
ends of the earth. And the commission that Christ
gives to his own disciples, of course. Go ye into all the worlds
and preach the gospel among all nations. Now that's the message
that is to be proclaimed and how Paul speaks of it in the
10th of Romans those who preach this glorious gospel remember
the passage there in Romans 10 verse 13 whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved How then shall they
call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings
of good things. Oh, the necessity of this preaching!
Faith cometh by hearing, he says, and hearing by the word of God. All the message is to go forth
and the gospel is to be proclaimed even to the ends of the earth. In God's word it never returns to him void.
How solemn is that truth! So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accompany that which I shall please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." God's words. But now, it's always a separating
word, a dividing word. It comes to some, the Saviour,
of life unto life, says the Apostle. But he comes to others the saviour
of death unto death. Paul cries out who is sufficient
for these things. He must be faithful in his ministry
and we see it in the Acts. He goes to the synagogue time
and again, he goes to the Jew first. But then they reject the
Word. And he turns to the Gentiles.
And so it is, there are those today, they hear the Word, they
reject the Word, they refuse the Word. Was he not the great
Puritan, Ivan John Owen, who said that no person is ever the
same after hearing the Gospel? Or there's no neutral position,
you see, you either receive it or you reject it. And how God's Word reaches out
and it reaches to those who are far off He reaches to those who
are in many ways a people separated, a people different. Here in verse 20, it shows out
of all nations, it's not all nations, it's an offering unto
the Lord out of all nations. that the Gospel comes to all
the Gentiles, not all the Gentiles come to the Gospel just as it
was with Israel, there was always there in the midst of Israel
that people who were God's typical people really, they were God's
covenant people but they're not all Israel that are of Israel
and there was always that little remnant that very small remnant. And Isaiah, as you know, even
at the very commencement of his book, speaks of a very small
remnant. Except the Lord of Hosts had
left unto us a very small remnant. There in chapter 1 at verse 9.
A very small remnant. Not just a remnant, not just
a small remnant, a very small remnant we should have been as
Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah and then strange
in the next verse, verse 10, hear the word of the Lord ye
rulers of Sodom give ear unto the Lord of our God ye people
of Gomorrah he addresses Israel as if they are those wicked debased
cities of the plain of course Sodomy The name comes from that
city, the perversions. And this land is worse than Sodom.
And yet, our God's word still comes even in such a wicked nation
as our nation. All there is, thank God, a remnant,
a separated people. And I said this morning how at
times there's such a as sickly people. They don't just come
in chariots, but they come in litters also. And we remarked
this morning on those in Mark chapter 2, those four who bring
their friend sick of a palsy, lying on his bed, he cannot go
where Christ is, they take him. And though the Lord deals so
graciously with him, he doesn't only heal him, he says, Son,
thy sins be forgiven them. Oh, He's there, you see, He has
authority to forgive sins. Who can forgive sins but God
only, is the cry of those Jews who were present. They're accusing
Christ of blasphemy, but He has authority to forgive sins because
He is God, and He is God manifest in the flesh. They that are whole
have no need of the physician, but they that are sick who are
with those who are sin-sick. We feel it. Christ comes to call
not the righteous but sinners, those poor sin-sick sinners.
He calls them to repentance. And what does He say of them?
Coming to the words that I announced for the text, verse 21, I will
also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord. Now think of that. Think of the
wonderful contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament,
because in the New Testament we have all the fullness of the
grace of God. Only one tribe in Israel were
to serve in the tabernacle. All the tabernacle is at the
very center of the worship of those God's ancient covenant
people. When they come out of Egypt,
Moses receives all that instruction in the mount after the giving
of the Ten Commandments. They desire that Moses be their
mediator. He goes into the mount and is
there 40 days and 40 nights. from chapter 21 following, and
he's receiving all this instruction, all this direction with regards
to the tabernacle and its furnishings, and everything must be done according
to the pattern that God is giving him in the mouth. And that tabernacle
is going to stand at the very center of their nation. They're becoming a nation now.
They're a typical people, they're the Lord's nation. but the tabernacle
is so central and of course we read Numbers chapter 2 on
Thursday and it's the ordering of all the tribes round about
the tabernacle and the ordering of the tribes as they journey
through the wilderness and they're following the tabernacle and
we read that chapter because each of the tribes had their
own ensign their own banner as it were and we're thinking here
of the ensign of the gospel but with regards to that tabernacle
there was only one of the tribes that was permitted to serve God
in the tabernacle There in Numbers 1 at verse 50, appoint the Levites
over the tabernacle of the testimony. That was the commandment of God
to Moses. He himself was of the tribe of
Levi. Appoint the Levites over the
tabernacle of testimony. And then of course, there was
only one family amongst the Levites that were to serve God as the
priestly family, Aaron, Moses' brother, and his sons, his descendants. And again, God gives that commandment,
Exodus 28, Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons
with him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. So there were Levites who did
various menial tasks round about the tabernacle and there was
one family amongst the Levites Aaron and his descendants who
served God in the office of the priest. It's Aaronic priesthood. That was what God himself had
appointed with regards to his worship and those Levites of
course had no inheritance when the land is divided amongst the
twelve tribes there's no part of the land apportioned to the
tribe of Levi well you say to me how could there be twelve
portions here why do we talk about the twelve tribes well
remember what happens is that Joseph in a sense has a double
portion Joseph has two sons Ephraim and Manasseh and Ephraim and
Manasseh are numbered amongst the twelve tribes There's no portion of the land allotted
to the tribe of Levi. They would have their provision,
they would have their suburbs, places they could live, but they
had no portion. Their portion was very much centered
upon the tabernacle. They were so privileged, they
were to serve God there in the tabernacle and subsequently,
of course, it would be in the temple. And no one was ever to
intrude into the office of the priesthood. Now Isaiah is ministering
in the days of King Uzziah amongst other kings as we see in the
opening chapter. Uzziah was one of the kings on
which he exercised his prophetic ministry. And in 2 Chronicles
26 We read about how this man, Uzziah, intrudes, invades, as
it were, the priest's office. He assumes to offer sacrifice to God. And what happens
is he is immediately struck down with leprosy. He is struck down,
with leprosy and he can no longer really function as the king he
has to live in a separate house he's a leper he can't mix freely
with the people they have to have a regency his son ruling
as it were in his stead that's how it was in the Old Testament
just the Levites serving in the tabernacle and the sons of Aaron
alone as the priests making the sacrifices. But what is this that he said
now with regards to the Gospel? I will also take of them. Take of who? All those that are
spoken of previously. They're brethren. They're an
offering to the Lord. But they're out of all those
various nations. Those strange sounding nations. They're those from the isles
of far off. They're Gentiles. And they're
all said to be priests and Levites unto the Lord God. Oh, this is
the Gospel you see. The priesthood has changed. The
priesthood has changed. There's a different priest now
unto the Gospel. The Lord Jesus is not a priest
after the order of the Aaronic priesthood, he is a priest after
the order of Melchizedek. And the Lord himself is of the
tribe of Judah, which tribe the Lord God spoke nothing of priesthood
in the Old Testament. There is a change of the priesthood,
there is a change of the of the Law, and Christ is a never-ending
priesthood. He has accomplished his priestly
work here upon the earth once and for all. He has made the
great sin-atoning sacrifice, but He has risen from the dead
and He has entered heaven itself, and there He now lives forever,
and His very presence is a continual plea on behalf of his people
he's a praying priest in that sense now in heaven and the language
that we have in Hebrews, Hebrews of course is the particular New
Testament book that deals with the whole matter of the priesthood
it's addressed to Hebrew believers and the Apostle is instructing
them in the fact of the change all of the Old Testament is now
gone now I did make some remarks didn't
I on Thursday with regards to Matthew 24 and that is a significant
chapter just to go aside to Matthew 24 for a while because You remember
the situation, here is the Lord in Jerusalem and his disciples
draw his attention to all the buildings of the temple in the
opening verses of that chapter. Jesus went out and departed from
the temple and his disciples came to him for to show him the
buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See
ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there
shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down. Now that sets the scene for the
whole chapter. And when was it? When was it
that that prediction of the Lord Jesus came to pass? Well it was
only about 40 years after he spoke those words. He was in
the year 70. Chapter 24, it's an interesting
chapter, doubtless you've read it. It does speak in many ways
of the signs of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
does speak of the end of time, but it also speaks of events
that occurred in the year 17. And Josephus, in his history
of the Jews, also speaks of those events when the Roman general
Titus came with these legions and they laid siege to Jerusalem
and the temple was destroyed. And all that remains now, of
course, is the Wailing Wall. But it had to be so because all
that Old Testament worship All that was associated with the
temple, the ministry of the Levites, the Aaronic priesthood, all that
was gone. And this chapter certainly has
portions that clearly refer to the events of Seventy. I think
particularly of the language in verse 28 there. Where so ever
the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together.
What are the eagles? These are the great ensigns of the Roman legions. The eagles. And they're gathering
around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is being destroyed. There's a change of the priesthood
and there's a change of the law and the language that we have
then there in that epistle to the Hebrews chapter 7 and verse
12 the priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a
change of the law there is a change of the law there is a priesthood
in the New Testament Christ has fulfilled the Aaronic priesthood,
but what is that priesthood in the New Testament? Well, believers.
As we read here in verse 21, Christian believers, all of them,
are taken for priests and for Lemites. And again, when we come
to the New Testament and the language that we have there,
in the last book, Revelation chapter 5, and there in verses
9 and 10. They sung a new song. This is
heaven. They sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof,
for thou wast slain. and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
not just one nation Israel but all the nations of the earth
and hast made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall
reign on the earth now that is not something that is going to
be that is something that is now as Baptists we believe in
that priesthood of all believers the kingdom of priests kings
and priests and holy priesthood says Peter to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus I remark this
morning when we come to worship it's not that we simply come
to receive we come to give what is it that we present unto God
you see these people They are brought, aren't they? They shall
bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord. There
is that that we offer, we give. It's what the Lord Himself has
first given to us. But we offer those spiritual
sacrifices, the sacrifice of praise, the fruits of the lips,
giving thanks to His Name. We only return to God what He
has first given to us, but Worship is more than us just coming to
receive. God is good, God is very good,
and we do receive so much at His hand. But do we not come
to serve Him as priests, to offer those sacrifices of praise? Here is the blessing then that
comes with the Gospel. I will also take of them for
priests and for Levites, saith the Lord. For as the new heavens
and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,
saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain." Now
mark what it says here in verse 22. They shall remain, it says,
before me. They remain before me They are
the Lord's portion. They are the Lord's portion.
Deuteronomy 32.9, the Lord's portion is His people. Jacob
is the lot of His inheritance. They are His. They are those that Christ has
purchased with His precious blood. They are no longer their own. They are bought with the price,
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are His portion. But also, we have to remember
that the Lord Himself was the portion of the priests and the
Levites. The Lord was their portion. They
had no portion, no part of the land was given to them. Look at Deuteronomy 18. The priests,
the Levites and all the tribe of Levi shall have no parts nor
inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings
of the Lord made by fire and his inheritance. Therefore they
shall have no inheritance among their brethren. The Lord is their
inheritance as he has said unto them." Oh, the Lord's people in the
Gospel there, His inheritance and His portion, but He is also
their inheritance. He is also their portion. Aren't
these some of the glories of the Gospel of our God? In the language of the Psalm,
Psalm 142 and verse 5, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the
land of the living. Or can we say that God is our
portion? What is it that is the very source
of our spiritual life? It's the Lord Himself. What are
we apart from Him, without Him? what a contrast we have here
they were those who were so far off the end sign is to be set
among the isles of far off that have not heard my fame neither
have seen my glory and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles
those who were of far off they are made nigh and they are made
nigh by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the contrast. Where was I? The guy, think of
the language of Paul. We were reading in Ephesians
chapter 3. It's a remarkable epistle, isn't it? I don't know.
You read those epistles of Paul and they're so full. And you read them and you think,
well, I've never seen this before, or I've never seen that before.
There's something so fresh and so reviving as one reads the
words. And what does he say in the previous
second chapter? He's addressing the church at
Ephesus, a Gentile church. At that time, he says, you were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and
without Christ in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who sometime were to fire off, are made nigh by the blood of
Christ." Oh, that's the blessing. Christ is the portion of His
people, just as they are His portion. Oh, the glorious breadth, then,
of the Gospel, and all the fullness and the richness of the Gospel,
but finally to say something with regards in a sense to the
length of the gospel if we think of the breadth of it and how
it extends to sinners of the Gentiles and how it goes out
to the ends of the earth well what of the length of it? well
here in verse 22 it says they remain before me so shall your
seed and your name remain These are the last days in which
we're living. We're those upon whom the end
of the world is come. These are gospel days. And what
we have here, of course, in verse 22, is very much referring to
the great consummation of this day. This day of grace, new heavens
and a new earth. previously in chapter 65 we have
something similar at verse 17 Behold I create new heavens and
a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into
mind and it doesn't remind us of the language of Peter Peter
himself speaks of new heavens and a new earth in 2 Peter chapter
3 and there at verse 11 and verses 12 and 13. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on
fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? Nevertheless, We, according to
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness." There is a glorious prospect, a blessed prospect,
the consummation of all things. It will come. It will come. But doesn't what we have in verse
22 also, in a sense, refer to the beginning of the day of grace? All those words back in verse
17 of chapter 65 when God says, I create new heavens and a new
earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. It's the passing of the old order
of things. It's a passing of the Old Testament
dispensation. It's the passing of the Aaronic
priesthood. It's the new heavens and the
new earth that we have in the Gospel. Sin brought such a dreadful curse
upon God's creation. The whole world, Paul says, lieth groaning in pain. Romans 8.22, the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth together in pain. Oh, what a dreadful
curse has sin brought in! Oh, thou hideous monster sin!
What a curse hast thou brought in! All creation groans through
the pregnant cause of misery. It's a sinful world. It's a world
that's under the curse because of Adam's transgression there
in the garden of Eden. those dreadful words that are
spoken in Genesis 3 at verse 17 following but with the gospel
we have a different order of things we have new heavens and a new
earth in a sense as the gospel comes because there is now another
Adam There is that last Adam who has come. Oh, remember what
Paul says writing there in 1 Corinthians 15 concerning those two men,
the first Adam and then the last Adam. The first Adam is of the earth
or the first man is of the earth. The last man is the Lord from
heaven. The first man, Adam, was made
a living soul. The last Adam is made a quickening
spirit. With the coming of Christ, you
see, there are new heavens, a new earth. I like that line in Watts'
paraphrase of Psalm 72, a Messianic Psalm that speaks of Christ's
kingdom and the words that what chooses concerning Christ in
him the sons of Adam boast more blessings than their father lost. Oh, we have new heavens and we
have new earth and we have it here in the gospel and if any
man is in Christ Jesus of course he's a new creation. This is
what the gospel does, it does remarkable things in the souls
of men, and it's that salvation that lasts forever and forever. "...shall remain before me, saith
the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain." It's an
everlasting salvation. Those who are blessed with that
grace of God in the Gospel, they receive eternal life. They they shall never perish. That eternal life will carry
them even through all the terrors of death and the grave. Is it
not with the believer absent from the body and present with
the Lord? Now Isaiah then, he's speaking
here of such a glorious fullness as he makes mention of the extent
of the gospel of the grace of our God. These words then that
we were looking at Thursday as we've continued with them today
from verse 19 through 22 and I will set a sign among them
and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations to Tarshish
Pool and Lut that draw the bow to Tubal and Javan to the isles afar off
that have not heard my fame neither have seen my glory And they shall
declare my glory among the Gentiles, and they shall bring all your
brethren for an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations,
upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules,
and upon swift beasts, to my holy mount in Jerusalem, saith
the Lord. As the children of Israel bring
an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord, and
I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith
the Lord. For as the new heavens and the
new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord,
so shall your seed and your name remain." All the fullness in,
the glorious extent of the Gospel. The height and the breadth and
the length and the depth. And we read, of course, that
remarkable prayer of the Apostle at the end of Ephesians chapter
3. His prayer for the believers
in that church, that Gentile church. What does he say? What is his desire for them? That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. Oh, the Lord be pleased to answer
that prayer in your soul and in my soul, and bless to us His
own Word. Amen.